Having arrived at the sixth edition of our ranking of every Boston Celtics draft pick by the number they were drafted at Nos. 1 through 60, we arrive at No. 53, which the franchise has selected at seven times in their 70 year history.
The picks made at this number began in 1963 and continued until 2017, the most recent draft Boston selected 53rd overall.
As one might be expected in this late position in the draft, there are no stars to speak of. But there are two NBA champions to speak of, and a few faces that might be familiar to comparatively recent fans of the Celtics.
As has been the case for all installments in this series, we use a rubric which values their achievements with Boston primarily, with their successes before and after their selection being used to rank players if the differences in green and white are small — or nonexistent.
With those details attended to, who are the best players selected 53rd overall by the Boston Celtics?
No. 7: Haskell “Hack” Tison – center – Duke
Imagine, if you will, making your mark in the NCAA title game for one of the bluest of blue bloods, then being drafted by the winningest NBA team in history at the peak of their power in the midst of the decade they dominated the league the most, only to turn it all down for a job at I.B.M., because it paid better.
That’s exactly what happened to Tison, a 6-foot-8 big man and former Blue Devil, as odd as it sounds today. He never played as a pro.
No. 6: Vincent Ernst – guard – Providence College
One of the first players out of PC to be drafted into the NBA, Ernst and the Friars won two NIT titles during his time with Providence, and Ernst even won NIT Most Valuable Player in 1961.
He didn’t make Boston’s final roster the summer after being drafted, though he did represent the U.S. in the 1963 Pan-American Games, and a few seasons in the Eastern Professional Basketball League before hanging it up for good in 1969.
No. 5: Roscoe Pondexter – forward – Long Beach State
Father of Quincy and brother of Cliff, the Pondexter family can ball, Roscoe being no exception. Pondexter instead chose to play in the American Basketball Association after being selected by the Celtics in the 1974 NBA Draft.
He’d play in that league until it went under, then on to Europe and South America. After his playing career ended, he became a prison guard, and years later, would help expose some of the worst abuses going on in U.S. prisons.
No. 4: Kadeem Allen – guard – Arizona
A familiar face to our newest Celtics fans, Allen didn’t stick with Boston, but he did actually play for them as a two way player for 18 games in the 2017-18 NBA season.
A 6-foot-1 combo guard who worked his way through community college ball before joining the Wildcats, Allen is the definition of a grinder. While the Celtics would end up waiving him, he latched on to the New York Knicks, for whom he still plays as a two way player.
No. 3: Orien Greene – University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Greene, a 6-foot-5 guard from Gainesville, Florida, actually went to his hometown University of Florida, transferring to Louisiana at Lafayette after being unhappy with his playing time as a Gator.
He didn’t get much backing up Delonte West for the Celtics, but did play in 80 games for Boston in his inaugural campaign. He averaged 3.2 points, 1.8 boards and 1.6 assists per game in his sole season with the Celtics, but would play three more seasons in the NBA and have a long career overseas.
No. 2: Wayne Kreklow – shooting guard – Drake
Kreklow’s NBA career was short, but unlike so many who had much longer ones, he also has a ring. He almost didn’t do even that, having to tough out a season with the Maine Lumberjacks of the Continental Basketball Association, the rough equivalent of the G League in the 1980s.
He’d make the Celtics for the 1980-81 campaign — the season after they’d drafted him — recording an average of 1.2 points per game over 25 contests played. While he never saw the floor in a playoff game, Boston would go on to win the NBA championship that season.
No. 1: Jerome Anderson – shooting guard – West Virginia
A 6-foot-5 wing taken from West Virginia in the 1975 NBA Draft, Anderson only lasted two season in the NBA — but one of them, his first, was on the 1975-76 Celtics. So, like Kreklow, he has a championship ring to his name despite playing just under six minutes a game for them.
He’d average 2.8 points per contest across 22 games played for Boston, and would play another season with the Indiana Pacers before embarking on a long and successful career playing in Sweden and Norway.
